The Aperitif Guy

Following on from my last post, about spirits tasting, I'd like to share with you the notes I made recently when I was sent a sample of The Lakes Distillery's latest in their "Whiskymaker's Reserve" series. As has become my habit, I took the sample to share with my Dad on one of my weekly visits, so some of the insights are his. Visual: Presented neat, the whisky is a deep gold/acorn colour. It moves freely around the glass, leaving fine "legs." On the nose: One is struck first by a creamy-vanilla aroma, followed by notes of chocolate and coffee. Less pronounced notes of thyme, resin or beeswax creep in as the spirit opens up. The sherry character The Lakes has made its signature is present, but much less obvious than in other Whiskymaker's Reserve releases. Palate: At first, the flavour shows some astringency (not unpleasant). The whisky is full- to heavy-bodied, luxurious and velvety in texture. Those notes of coffee and vanilla are off-set by a ri...

Every now and again, I am given samples of gin or whisky to taste, either for review or to give feedback to the producer. I also get bookings for gin-tasting events, and I have to check out the best spirits to provide in bars I work for. Spirit tasting has its own structure and 'ritual,' just like wine tasting does, and many of the questions I'm asking about the drink are the same as I ask about wine. Many readers will have taken part in wine tastings and know what those questions are. However, there are particular considerations with spirits that you may not be aware of, and I'd like to share my approach.  You can buy specialist glasses that are designed for spirit tasting if you like, but wine tasting glasses are just as good, or you can use a small brandy glass. The key issue is that they should be wider at the bottom of the glass and tapered towards the nose. Many glasses marketed as spirit glasses flare slightly at the rim, but this is not absolutely essential. Obv...

A table set for a St Patrick's night dinner Rain. Something Ireland has in abundance. Soft, constant rain. The Gulf Stream brings warm water up the Atlantic to the west coast of Ireland, ensuring the winters are never truly harsh, but it also ensures that the weather systems making landfall on that coast are well and truly water-laden. Cool air off the mountains condenses the water, which then falls as rain. It’s not great news for tourism, but it makes for fantastic agriculture. Ireland has always been a producer of good food. The rain makes for rich pasture for beef and dairy cattle alike. Milk, butter and cheeses are sweet and plentiful. Beef is firm and flavoursome. Small-scale farming and crofting mean that sheep farming produces high-quality lamb and mutton that is much sought-after throughout Europe. However, it is the pig that dominates the Irish domestic table. You won’t go long in Ireland before being served pork, bacon or ham. Any country that has know...

Yes, I've used the 'C' word, and it's not even half way through November! Baking, though, won't wait. Christmas inevitably involves a lot of hospitality for us, so early preparation is key if I'm going to enjoy the festivities. Many of my favourite recipes have been handed from one friend to another, one generation to the next and are recorded on old envelopes and bits of paper stuffed into the back of an old cookbook. I love the stories and memories that go with them and I'm making a point of collecting them into a book to give to my next generation when they're old enough. They may have to get used to my habit of swinging from metric to imperial measures and back again, though. I'm of that age group who were taught using both, and, although I'm equally comfortable with each, I struggle to convert from one to the other. I just use the version I've been given. A Boxing Day buffet, with cake, sausage rolls and mince pies Cakes ...

A few months ago, I wrote about our visit to The Lakes Distillery and my fascination with the approach their Whiskymaker takes to maturing and blending whisky. You can read that post here:  http://blog.theaperitifguy.co.uk/2019/08/a-distillery-visit.html Whiskymaker Dhavall Gandhi (image courtesy of the Lakes Distillery) I was contacted again by the Lakes Distillery to inform me that their first widely available single malt whisky has been released. The whisky has been named The Whiskymaker's Reserve No1, the first in a series of limited releases showing off the skills of Dhavall Gandhi, the whiskymaker whose approach so fascinated me in the summer. Since the communication from The Lakes also offered a sample for tasting and review, I couldn't resist accepting! If you follow me on Twitter, you will have read my impressions the evening I opened the bottle. Having said in August that The One was not my style of whisky, preferring as I do a more peaty taste, I was exp...

Over the years, I've visited a few whisky distilleries. The highlands and islands of Scotland, in particular, are home to many distilleries, set in beautiful surroundings, which have seen commercial advantages to receiving visitors. Until this year, I hadn't been inside a gin distillery, though, and I thought it about time I rectified that. (Pardon the pun.)  Photo courtesy of The Lakes Distillery As luck would have it, I discovered the Lakes Distillery, through their exceptionally clean-tasting gin. Then I discovered that they are open to tourists and even have a bistro on site. Perfect. We booked ourselves in for a distillery tour - and lunch in the Bistro - on the way home from a weekend away. We were blessed with a quiet day and the wisdom to book a morning tour. Not only did this provide us with an ideal aperitif before lunch, it meant we had the tour guide to ourselves. We could ask trivial questions, probing questions, follow tangents and cause our guide a gi...

Mrs Aperitif with her pride & joy Jean-Anthèlme Brillat-Savarin wrote that to receive someone into your home is to assume responsibility for their well-being and happiness until they leave. I was in my 40s before I read that, but it was something I’d known since I was a child, and when I did read it, I recognised immediately an approach to hospitality that I’d inherited from my Mum. I felt like I'd discovered something that had always been there, written into my DNA. Food has always been an important element of my Mum’s mothering. When we were at home, she took great pleasure in providing for our needs. Food was always prepared from fresh meat, vegetables and fruit. It wasn’t particularly lavish, but she’s a good cook and made us food that was tasty, filling and healthy. She’s never been afraid to try new things, and I have realised in adulthood that we were introduced to curry, pizza, chilli and lasagne a good five years earlier than most families of similar so...